drill

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drill (someone) (with questions)

To intensely or vigorously interrogate someone. My parents wouldn't stop drilling me with questions as I was heading out the door—I thought I'd never be able to leave!Would you stop drilling me? I don't know where he is!

fire drill

1. An organized evacuation of a building to prepare its occupants for the proper procedure in the event of an actual fire. Less than an hour after the school day began, the students were ushered out onto the lawn for a fire drill.

2. By extension, any event, activity, or situation that is useless, unproductive, or a complete waste of time. Usually used in business. The massive flop of the company's newest smartphone means that the huge amount of time and money they invested in it ultimately proved to be nothing but a fire drill.

3. Any unexpected, hurried, and particularly chaotic task, activity, event, or situation. Usually used in business. The boss dropped a fire drill in my lap at the last minute, saying I needed to write up a 15-page report for the board by the end of the hour.

know the drill

To be familiar with what happens or what needs to be done, without having to be told. OK everyone, you know the drill! Stand beside your bunks and do not speak unless spoken to.The boss usually goes off on a tirade like this every week or so, but we all know the drill at this point—it's just a big show.

drill down (to something)

to bore downward to something or some distance. We drilled down to a layer of waterbearing sand, hoping to make a well.They had to drill down to bedrock to make a base for the piers that hold the building up.

drill something into someone or something

What's the drill?

1.Inf. What is going on here? Bill: I just came in. What's the drill? Tom: We have to carry all this stuff out to the truck. "What's the drill?" asked Mary. "Why are all these people sitting around like this?"

2.Inf. What are the rules and procedures for doing this? Bill: I need to apply for new license plates. What's the drill? Is there a lot of paperwork? Clerk: Yes, there is. Bill: I have to get my computer repaired. Who do I talk to? What's the drill? Bob: You have to get a purchase order from Fred.

no names, no pack drill

punishment or blame cannot be meted out if names and details are not mentioned.

Pack drill is a form of military punishment in which an offender has to perform parade-ground exercises while carrying a heavy pack. This early 20th-century expression is often used as an aside to recommend reticence about a particular subject.

drill into

v.

1. To penetrate some surface by boring: The geologist drilled into the Earth's crust.

2. To teach or inculcate something to someone by constant, intense repetition: The teacher drilled the multiplication tables into the bored students. The teacher tried to drill into our heads the capital of every country.

blanket drill

Chinese fire drill

A politically incorrect term for chaos. The phrase supposedly originated in the early 1900s. A ship with British officers and a Chinese crew practiced an engine room fire drill. The bucket brigade drew water from the ship's starboard side, carried it to the engine room, and simulated throwing it on the “fire.” Another crew carried the buckets to the main deck and threw the water over the port side. But when orders became confused in translation, the bucket brigade started to draw the water from the starboard side, run over to the port side, and then throw the water overboard, bypassing the engine room completely. A 1960s stunt was for a carload of teenagers of college students to stop at a red light, whereupon at the command “Chinese fire drill,” driver and passengers got out, ran around the car, and returned to their original seats. The same idea is sometimes heard as the equally politically incorrect “Chinese square dance.”

short arms inspection

Military inspection for venereal diseases. Beginning with World War II, the military made visual determinations with regard to sexually transmitted diseases (primarily gonorrhea) through what was called a short arms inspection (or drill). Held early in the morning, men dressed in only their boots, helmet liners, and overcoat were summoned out of their barracks or bunks and ordered to line up. When indicated by the medical officer, each man opened his coat to bare his penis, which he then “milked” in a stripping motion to show whether there was any infectious discharge. The term distinguished between a man's governmentissued firearm and his own “short arm.” The inspection practice ended after the Vietnam conflict.

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